What are you restaurant red flags?
Mine is cooks with gloves in complete kitchens. It screams that hygiene is not their priority. Otherwise, you wouldn't need any gloves.
Discussion
If it's empty, probably good reason why
Also a busy restaurant is usually not great quality either.
I am very specific about food quality and service consistency.
The better the restaurant, sorry guys I don't talk about you and advertise, because then you get busy, too good a reputation makes the restaurant too busy.
Quality and service plummets. I ate from resteraunts pretty much everyday from 5 years, not fast food.
These are my autistic observations of pattern recognition.
Keep good restaurants your dirty little secret đ
That and the smell
Gloves or utensils are required if the ingredients are not being heated up.
My uncle used to work maintenance in commercial kitchens, he always told me to check the loos before you look at the menu. If their toilets (public areas) arenât clean, itâs likely the kitchens (private areas) arenât clean either.
This is the correct answer.
Extremely unhappy staff
Big menu. Large variety of items. It scream "our ingredients are definitely not fresh"
I won't tell you a red flag but a green flag is when their bread comes better than just normal slice of bread taken out of the pack. I don't care if wether it is flavored, toasted or with some olive oil on it. This speaks that they care about how everything is done
Paved parking lot. If they've got money for frivolous amenities like that, you're paying extra.
Hot girls serving food!
Naked PokĂŠmon dancing on tables. It means theyâre putting something strange in the cocktails at this restaurant.
fake candlelight
Nah Iâd say just pay attention to the bathrooms.
Nitrile Gloves I used lots of when working in BBQ bc of handling really hot meat, and it made it easier to hold and cut a lot, or just pulling pork, or de-boning. Also helps with exposure to cold in the same sense.
Plus, lots of other examples. Preventing batter under your nails when frying foods. Or working with lots of sauces, you need to be able to quickly change hands without cross contamination.
You should be more concerned with things like how often do they change their fryer oil, do they clean their vent hoods, how dirty do they keep their grill area, how do they store their product, are they slack thawing, etc
There are plenty of good reasons to wear gloves depending on what youâre making. For example, the heat from your hands will melt the fat and change the meat if you are preparing for smash burgers or something. But for sure, if you think they are just putting on gloves - instead of washing their hands⌠as a catch all - thatâs not a good sign.
As far as red flags - itâs hard to tell ahead of time. I wonât eat at places where it smells like tons of cleaning fluid. I wonât return to a restaurant if the people seating me have no social skills, if I see mold, loud fans, gross carpets and furniture, food that doesnât have fish but smells like it does⌠but many of those things are what you find out over the course of your first time there. Sometimes rude waiter = the best secret place.
If itâs empty - and/or the menu is too big, they probably donât know what they are doing. Besides that⌠I end up having to find outâŚ
Sticky tables, extensive menu, unwelcoming staff
no fresh food, no taste, stink.
If the room where you eat is dirty, imagine the kitchen...
The chef must be obese, or at least overweight. If not, he needs a very good reason, like hormonal imbalance. Else his food is not that good.
He's probably eating the dishes themselves! 
Red flag if the chef doesnât wear arm gloves when he cuts my Sammy and he gets a lot of hair on it
Using a microwave.
When it's empty
Too many items on the menu
Biggest red flag is a near empty restaurant with very few staff in a busy area.
It says to me that they're struggling & probably not cycling their stock quick enough. Restaurants are typically growing or contracting (excluding the Lindy's).
I usually look for an unassuming place that is frequented by locals.
Depends if I get a rude response for not tipping enough when the food is already expensive. That will tell me to never come back there again.
If the bathroom is disgusting, EVERYTHING is disgusting.
mine is when there are animals in the kitchen
I love eating. If the food was not prepared with care, it shows. I don't want substenance, i want â¨foodâ¨
A restaurant with the Soviet flag on the wall, that's a red flag in a restaurant